| acquisition | one company's purchase of the property and obligations of another company |
| conglomerate merger | joining of firms in completly unrelated industries |
| conventional corporation | a state charted legal entity with authority to act and have liability separte from its owners |
| cooperative | a business owned and controlled by the people who use it-- producers, consumers, or workeres with similar needs who pool their resources for mutual gain |
| corporation | a legal entity with authority to act and have liabilty separate from its owners |
| franchise | the right to use a specific business's name and sell its products or services in an area |
| franchise agreement | an arrangement whereby someone with a good idea for a business sells the rights to use the business name and sell a product or service to others in the area |
| franchisee | a person who buys a franchise |
| franchisor | a company that developes a product concept and sells others the rights to make and sell the products |
| general partner | an owner (partner) who has unlimited liability and is active in managing the firm |
| general partnership | a partnership in which all owners share in operating the business and in assuming liability for the business's debts |
| horizontal merger | the joining of firms in completly unrelated industries |
| leveraged buyout (LBO) | an attempt by employees, management, or a group of investors to purchase an organization primarily through borrowing |
| limited liability | the responsibility of a business's owners for losses only up to the amount they invest; limited partnership and shareholders have limited liablity |
| limited liability company (LLC) | company similar to an S corp. but without the special eligibility requirement |
| limited liability partnership (LLP) | partnership that limits partners risk of losing their personal assets to only their acts and omissions of people under their supervision |
| limited partner | an owner who invests money in the business but does not have any management responsibiility or liability for losses beyond the investment |
| limited partnership | a partnership with one or more general partners and one or more limited partners |
| master limited partnership (MLP) | a partnership that looks much like a corporation (traded on stock exchange) but is taxed like a partnership and thus avoids the corporate income tax |
| merger | result of two firms forming one company |
| partnership | a legal form of business with two or more owners |
| S corporation | a unique government creation that looks like a corporation but is taxed like like sole proprietorships and partnerships |
| sole proprietorship | a business that is owned, and usually managed by one person |
| unlimited liability | the responsibility of business owners for all of the debts of the business |
| vertical merger | the joining of two companies involved in different stages of related business |